Town Clerk Who Refuses to Sign Marriage Licenses For Same-Sex Couples RE-ELECTED

Incumbent Rose Marie Belforti on Tuesday won re-election as town clerk in Ledyard in a race that divided townspeople and drew national attention over her refusal to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.

Belforti, a Republican, defeated Ed Easter, of Aurora, who launched a write-in candidacy some six weeks ago after learning of his opponent’s stance against the state’s recently passed Marriage Equality Act.

Belforti’s position polarized residents in this mostly rural town of about 1,900 residents on the east side of Cayuga Lake. The township includes the village of Aurora, home to Wells College. By mid-afternoon nearly one-third of the town’s 951 registered voters had cast their ballots at the town office building, an election official there said. In all nearly 500 residents had voted by the time polls closed at 9 p.m. The story was written about in The New York Times and The Huffington Post after it first appeared in The Post-Standard. The dispute also attracted national advocates from both sides of the issue.